She takes mother for a change of air (5)
I believe the answer is:
maria
'she' is the definition.
'mother for a change of air' is the wordplay.
'mother' becomes 'ma' (Ma is another word for mother or mum).
'for a change of' indicates anagramming the letters (I've seen 'for a change' mean this).
'air' is an anagram of 'ria'.
'ma'+'ria'='MARIA'
'takes' is the link.
(Other definitions for maria that I've seen before include "Black --, police van" , "Woman" , "Lunar plains; girl's name" , "Ms Callas, soprano" , "Lady" .)